The present invention generally relates to a stacked connector assembly, and more particular to connectors hinged together to form a stacked connector assembly.
An electrical connector pair for mating each other to connect a first circuit board, such as a circuit board of a computer disk drive, to a second circuit board, such as a main circuit board of a docking station, are known in the field of connectors, such as SCA-2 based connectors. Such electrical connectors are thus often referred to as xe2x80x9cboard-to-boardxe2x80x9dconnectors. Connectors of similar function for connecting two circuit boards are also available in the market, such as EBBI connectors (EBBI is a registered mark of Molex Inc., Lisle, Ill.). Each pair of the board-to-board connectors comprises a plug (or male) connector and a socket (or female) connector releasably mating each other. An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,171.
To save the occupied area of the printed circuit board on which connectors are mounted, the connectors can be assembled in a stacked relation before mounting to the printed circuit board. The stacked connectors, which is generally called xe2x80x9cstacked connector assemblyxe2x80x9d are also well known in the field of connectors. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,800,207 and 5,851,125. These stacked connector assemblies each require a bracket to secure connectors together. The brackets increase the costs of the assemblies. Furthermore, the connectors in these assemblies are secured together by means of mortise-tenon and/or snap fitting structures. However, such a securing means is not convenient to operate; thus, the assembling efficiency is low. Accordingly, an improved stacked connector assembly is necessary to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly which does not need a bracket to secure connectors of the assembly together.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a stacked connector assembly wherein connectors of the assembly can be easily secured together.
To achieve the above objects, in accordance with the present invention, a stacked connector assembly comprises a first connector, such as an SCA-2 based receptacle connector, and a second connector, such as an EBBI based plug connector, and vertically stacked on the first connector. The first connector comprises a first housing having a top face on which axially aligned pairs of opposing sockets are formed and a plurality of terminals each having a tail. The second connector comprises a second housing having a bottom face on which axially aligned spindles are formed and a plurality of terminals each having a tail. The second housing is positioned on the first housing with opposite ends of each spindle rotatably received in and supported by a corresponding pair of sockets to hingedly connect the second connector to the first connector. Each housing comprises two arms extending rearward from opposite ends thereof. Each arm of the second housing is stacked on the corresponding arm of the first housing. A spacer has a high profile portion having a plurality of openings therein and a low profile portion having a plurality of openings therein. The high profile portion is retained between the rearward-extending arms of the second connector with the tails of the second terminals extending through the corresponding openings. The low profile portion is retained between the rearward-extending arms of the first housing with the tails of the first terminals extending through the corresponding openings.